BRM Reviews WCW Clash of the Champions VI: Ragin' Cajun

[Big Red Machine]

WCW Clash of the Champions VI: Ragin’ Cajun (4/2/1989)- New Orleans, LA

THE MIDNIGHT EXPRESS (w/Jim Cornette) vs. THE SAMOAN SWAT TEAM (w/Paul E. Dangerously)- 6.5/10
Good opener, with a good heel finish.

STEVEN CASEY vs. THE GREAT MUTA (w/Gary Hart)- 5.5/10
I’m really not sure why they let this guy last so long against Muta. With a whole bunch of other, much bigger matches left on the card and the World Title match going forty minutes, this really just didn’t seem like the best use of all of this time.

JUNKYARD DOG vs. BUTCH REED (w/Hiro Matsuda)- 4.5/10
An eh match that was pumped up by a crowd that loves JYD.

DICK MURDOCH vs. BOB ORTON (w/Gary Hart)- 4.25/10
An eh match, but with one of my favorite heel finishes, as well as one of my favorite attempts by a heel commentator to deny an act of cheating. The finish is the standard spot where the babyface goes for a vertical suplex and the heel manager trips him up, causing him to lose his balance. The heel then falls on top of the babyface and the manager holds the babyface’s legs down to stop him from kicking out. Jim Ross, being the great babyface announcer that he is, is outraged at Gary Hart’s cheating, but Michael Hayes says that Hart wasn’t cheating. “He was just trying to help Murdoch keep his balance.” BRILLIANT!

WORLD TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH: The Road Warriors(c) (w/Paul Ellering) vs. Mike Rotunda & “Dr. Death” Steve Williams (w/Kevin Sullivan)- 6/10
Before the match the camera zooms in on a sign proclaiming the awesomeness of the Road Warriors… expect that this fan has misspelled the word “awesome.” * Facepalm*
Anyway, this was a standard babyface vs. heels tag team match ending in a screwy finish when Teddy Long decides to fast-count the Road Warriors.

RANGER ROSS vs. THE IRON SHEIK (w/Rip Morgan)- no rating, okay segment. I’m not really sure what the point of this was because it didn’t build to anything on the next few big shows, but it didn’t take up that much time either. Still, if Flair and Steamboat are going forty minutes in your main event, it might have been best to give this time to something else that needed it more.

WCW UNITED STATES TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH: Rick Steiner & Eddie Gilbert(c) (w/Missy Hyatt) vs. Dan Spivey & Kevin Sullivan- 3/10
I really wasn’t a fan of the babyfaces cheating to win.

RIC FLAIR PROMO- great

2 OUT OF 3 FALLS MATCH FOR THE NWA WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE: Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat(c) vs. Ric Flair- a PERFECT 10/10
Definitely the best match these two have had against each other. This was an absolute masterpiece of selling and storytelling. Steamboat is, without a doubt, one of the best babyfaces in wrestling history, and this match is a prime example of why.

Overall, a very good show from WCW, but mostly on the strength of the main event. Some Clashes were more geared towards selling the next PPV than others were, and this one, being on the same night was Wrestlemania V, was one of the latter. I haven’t seen WM 5 yet so I can’t tell you which one was better, but I can tell you that the main event here was definitely better than Hogan vs. Savage. The rest of this show was pretty much forgettable, though, aside from the Teddy Long fast-count, which was the beginning of his heel turn.

STUPID ANNOUNCER QUOTES:
1. Both Hayes & JR say that a Moonsault is a 360, but anyone who knows high school math can tell you that it is a 270.